One Easy Step to Angry Customers

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Here's a portion of an email sent to me by a subscriber last week. It's been cut for space... "Recently I purchased a product from a website. I left so angry it almost ruined my whole day. Instead of directing me to the page where the product could be downloaded, I was taken to pages upon pages of other products they wanted me to purchase. The download link was hard to find on these pages, and when I did find it and click...more pages of stuff they shoved in my face. I felt as though I was being mugged. This tactic seems to be the trend, but it is something I could never do. Does such ignorant behavior actually work, or am I just sensitive?" Thank you for your email. Sadly, this behavior does work, at least in the short term. It's easy to look in your ad tracking stats and see the EPC - the earnings per click. Having a gauntlet of additional products and services before the download can increase the immediate EPC numbers. But it also does exactly what it did to you. It can run off BUYERS forever. The customer feels they are just dollar signs in the website owner's pocket. Notice in this situation a purchase had been made...money had exchanged hands...but the "instant download product" wasn't delivered until you went through their obstacle course. Their money is now hostage to the upsell process. Not a good introduction to the customer relationship. And it's going to hurt your long-term sales. It's easy to see why this Upsell Hell is so common. Affiliates demand high EPC's. That's often more important to them than the quality of the product itself. How much will they earn per click? If you want the largest number of affiliates in your market promoting you, you've got to get that EPC number up. That means getting your conversion as high as you can on the front end. Make an outrageous offer. Back it up with a strong promise and proof. And close the sale with honest scarcity if possible. Then offer an upsell. I've yet to see anyone complain about one relevant upsell. The first upsell is a general rule you want to add in to boost up that EPC number. There may be a few people who are annoyed by an upsell, but if it's presented correctly they're not going to get angry and hold it against you. Each additional upsell after the first does run the risk of aggravating your buyer. When well done, you can often insert a 2nd one into the funnel. Make sure they've both very relevant and it's easy to navigate past them. One upsell is smart business. Additional upsells can be used if done correctly. But at what point has it become Upsell Hell? Remember the golden rule. Treat others the way you want to be treated. How do you personally feel going through your own sales process? Do you feel like someone is consulting with you about additional assistance they can offer...or are they mugging you for all your cash at gunpoint? Observe a smart business like Amazon some day. They give you multiple opportunities to buy more. There are other products customers have viewed, products customers have purchased, suggestions in your shopping cart, and even more suggestions on the thank you page. But it's easy to get through the process and you don't feel "sold to." You're in control of the buying process. I've screwed up here also in promoting affiliate programs in the past that included an Upsell Hell. I didn't know the whole sequence upfront and heard about it from customers. That was my mistake of not finding out everything I needed to know before the promotion.